TEXT : Acts
1:12-2:1
TITLE: What to do between Ascension and Pentecost?
Date : 20/05/2012
Chronologically, we
are now between the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and Pentecost (the coming of the Holy
Spirit – the promise of the Father - Acts 1:4). This ‘in between period‘ corresponds to Acts
1:12-26. This is the text we shall
consider today.
Next week D.V. on Pentecost Sunday I would like to consider with
you the message and meaning of Pentecost
(Acts
2). We would like to follow this up
by spending 3 days in prayer (Monday 28th May- Wednesday
30th May), seeking the
LORD for personal and national revival
and renewal. By then we
will also be half way through the
year. We shall need God’s
help to be all that He wants us
to be in these challenging days. God has
called us to be primarily His holy worshipping people,
His body on earth and His
witnesses to the ends of the earth. We need His help to be that and to do that by prayer. Prayer is the language of
dependence upon God. Prayer give us perspective for life. Being too busy to
pray robs us of such perspective. Therefore prepare your hearts now for
focused prayer.
Acts 1:12-26 : Survey
What was the most important activity of the disciples between
the Ascension of Christ and Pentecost as they were told to wait for the
promise of the Father? According to Luke, ( author of the Gospel and of Acts) they
were continually in the temple
blessing God (Lk 24:53) and here in the book of Acts they
were devoting[1]
themselves also to prayer, together with the women and Mary , the mother of Jesus, and
His brothers (v.14), while they
were waiting for the promise of the Father. They worshipped God in the temple and they had prayer meetings in their home. John Stott
says: “It was a healthy combination: continuous praise in
the temple, and continuous prayer in the
home.”[2]
One of the things they
dealt with was the matter of Judas’ desertion and tragic death and
destiny. The apostle Peter
speaking from v. 15 onwards, giving perspective to
all this, also sees from the Scripture in Psalm
109:8 that another one must
take the place of Judas. “Let another
take his office (ESV) / his place of
leadership (NIV)“. This is important
since the testimony of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ (v.22)
must be authenticated in the face
of many skeptics and challenges. The criteria set for the election of a new apostle are simple. He
must have accompanied the disciples
during all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among them- and specifically, from
the days of the baptism of John until the day when He was taken up from us - one of these men must become with us a
witness to His resurrection”. Two men were selected Joseph (Barsabbas i.e. Son of Sabbas) also known as Justus and Matthias. After
committing this matter to
prayer, lots were cast and the lot fell to Matthias, and so he
became the 12th member on the apostolic team. This then was one of the important things
they prayed for in their prayer meetings. They prayed for a completion
of their leadership team. I will
come back to this in conclusion because our church has presently great need
in this very same area.
Worship, prayer, witness! These things are the key activities of the church , and whatever we fail to do, we must not fail in these
areas. In the context of our text in Acts , I want to zoom in on one of these
core activities – prayer. Verse 14 says that, with one
accord, they were devoting themselves
to prayer.
Verse 14 : Notes
on Prayer
1. They were there with one accord . They were of one mind. There was
unity. They had a common goal and purpose. Nothing was dividing them
now. We were created for unity . It is sin that separates us . It is our
desires that drive us apart. A united, praying
church is a powerful church. She has the ear of God. She portrays heaven on earth. Psalm 133 testifies to this.
No wonder that Satan continuously works
to divide us. He fears the united,
praying church more than anything else upon the face of the earth.
2. They
were continually devoted to the work of prayer. Prayer was a major work in this congregation. In one sense we can say that the Holy Spirit
was sent at Pentecost as the sovereign
promise of God and on the other
hand we can say that the Holy Spirit
came because He was
prayed for. When God intends to do a work in our midst, He first gets His people praying. We see this here. A
season of devoted prayer precedes the
coming of the Holy Spirit. Never underestimate
the importance of the prayer
meeting in the life of the church, and be very concerned when the prayer
meeting of the church is attended by the
minority and not the majority! If a
large percentage of the body is absent
from public prayer, this generally points to divided priorities, divided hearts and therefore a lack of spiritual
unity and purpose. You are probably
asking : do these people in the
Bible never work? Answer : They do , but
they are not firstly known by what they do. They are firstly known as
worshippers of the living God!
Unfortunately our Protestant work ethic
so easily substitutes work for
worship , when in reality our work should be driven by our worship. Let me
therefore encourage you to consider the prayer meetings of your church in that
light.
Now, it
is not that we have to ask for a new Pentecost. It is not that
the Holy Spirit needs to come again from heaven. Pentecost is a unique, unrepeatable historic
occasion. He has come, and He has not been withdrawn. Jesus has promised
that He would continue to be with us
as our Comforter, Counselor and Convicter of sin. However, consider this, that in the New Testament period
God wants us to seek the help of the outpoured Holy Spirit
by asking !
a.God
commands His people to pray without ceasing.
In the OT corporate
temple prayer was a daily
occurrence (see Acts 2:42;
Acts 3:1). The early church was
continuously devoted to prayer, and although the church at this time had
not yet received the Holy Spirit, they were
waiting, until He had been given. We today
have the Holy Spirit, but we need
to continually ask Him to be involved in all that we do,
remembering that without God’s help we
really can do nothing of everlasting
value (see Jn 15). So, the life of the
Christian and of the Christian church should be driven by continual prayer.
b. God commands the church
to ask for the Holy Spirit.
He promises to give Him in response to our asking: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him.” The gift of the Holy
Spirit is always associated with conversion (Jn 3:1-8 ; 1 Pet 1:12) and empowerment for effective ministry (Lk 4:1; 1 Cor 12 ; Hebr 2:4) and joy (Lk 10:21 ; 1Thess 1:6). And so, although the Spirit has been given
, every new NT generation needs to continually seek God
in prayer and ask for the help and power of the Holy Spirit in terms
of everything that we do. James
points out that a worldly church “does
not have , because it does not ask, and
when it does ask,it does not receive because it asks wrongly to spend
it on its passions.” (James 4:2,3).
There can be no doubt that we must ask . It is an exercise of our faith! It is
a logical extension of our faith! In this
act of faith we must believe and
not doubt (James 1:5-8). God is for us when we pray in the Holy Spirit. John 14:12-14, Jesus tells
His disciples: [12] “Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
[13] Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you ask me anything in my name, I
will do it.( see also 15:16 ; 16:23-24).
c.God commands the church to pray in the Spirit in all occasion (Eph 6:18; Jude v.20). This does not mean ‘speaking in
tongues’ so much as praying in and by and under the power of the Holy Spirit i.e. effectively and with confidence (1 Jn 5:14,15).
d.We are warned not to grieve the
Holy Spirit (Lk
12:10; Eph 4:30), for if we do so,
He may be withdrawn, and our
prayers rendered ineffective. It is
ultimately the Holy Spirit that intercedes for us and makes our prayers intelligible before the
throne of God (Rom 8:26,27). If we are
not helped by Him in prayer, God will be
silent, something which the Psalmist dreaded (Psalm 28:1; 35:22; 83:1)
So , with all this in mind , what was this church praying for between the Ascension and Pentecost ?
We
cannot say with certainty, but the following three aspects for which they prayed may be deduced from Acts 1 and 2.
1 (i) They were praying for
the promise of the Father: the descension of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the promise of Jesus in
John 14 :15-31 and 16: 4-15. This would soon happen in Acts 2. For us this would mean that we should pray that the
promised Holy Spirit would
be pleased visit our city and
country . Although the Spirit of God has always been at work in the world and
in Namibia ( Missionary biography proves this) , we are currently in a precarious moment in our history : the church at large is backslidden, and it shows in our national morality and the
lukewarmness of the Christian church. Worship
is often man-made, prayer meetings are
empty and our witness is feeble. The fear of God is
absent. Thoughtlessness
rules as man made philosophies and ways of thinking about politics,
education, gender, sexuality etc. prevail. We need a new reformation in our society in regard to these things.
(ii) They were praying for
power to be effective witnesses to the whole world (Acts 1:8). This would have included prayers for personal courage in the face
of fearful challenges. The
commitment of the Namibian
Church to the
great commission of Christ (Matt
28 :18-20), when compared, for
instance with the South Korean Church) is by and large non existent. We lack power and conviction
to this end. We have been receiving help for far too long. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would stir
many into mission and evangelistic
labour.
(iii) They were praying
for leadership. The church throughout the ages has
always depended on godly and
God-given leadership. It is God ‘s means of
leading His church on earth. Where shall
we get the pastoral leadership, the evangelists and the missionary force from?
Jesus said: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers
are few. Therefore pray earnestly
to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.”
(Luke 10:2). The disciples in the
upper room were therefore acting in accordance with this instruction from the
Lord, and He was not slow in providing
them with a replacement called Matthias.
We too are calling you to pray for leadership
on various fronts in our church – for elder’s
and deacons , and labourers
in the harvest field. But you must help us in this regard , brothers
and sisters ( 2 Cor 1:10,11).
What
to do between Ascension and Pentecost?
The early church was praying for God’s kingdom to come; for God’s glory
to advance; for His Name to be
known in all the earth; the church was
praying for leadership. Let’s join them in this. Amen !
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